DAMASCUS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) has kidnapped as many as 130 families in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour, a war monitor reported late on Friday.
The IS militants kidnapped the families from a displacement shelter in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The observatory has not released further details but reported intense battles between the IS and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in eastern Deir al-Zour.
The Britain-based watchdog group said the battles have dramatically intensified over the past 65 hours between both groups on the eastern side of Euphrates River.
The SDF launched the offensive on the IS in eastern Deir al-Zour on Sept. 10 and since then the battles kept raging.
Even though the IS holds a few pockets in that area, the battles are hard as the IS militants resorted to several tactics to prevent the SDF from advancing through landmines and suicide bombings.
The Syrian army has cleared the IS from large swathes of areas in Deir al-Zour Province, including its namesake capital city, while the SDF is attempting to consolidate positions in the northern and northeastern countryside of the province.
Recent reports said the IS-controlled Syrian territory has shrunk to one percent from almost half of the country a couple of years ago.
